CASD 1717 – Spring 2024
In this video, created as a promotional accompaniment to Oxford University Press’s Fairy Tale: A Very Short Introduction, its author, the scholar Marina Warner gives an overview of what she sees as constituting a fairy tale.
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales?
when she says the supernatural is there to make us hope, i didn’t really understand too much about that.
Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
I had not considered that the dark sides of fairytales often teach us how to cope with the losses and obstacles that might be presented. I remember mostly the fairytales from films than the book version itself.
I agreed with everything she said. Fairytales to me were always something magical and enchanting. There was always something good and bad in them. I actually love the dark side of the fairytales and hearing what the villains had to say and feel. That reminded me on why I loved to watch “Once Upon A Time” show.
this really opened a window for me to pay attention to villains and the whys to their actions.
There weren’t any new points mentioned about the elements of fairytales. I preferred to read the more enchanting stories that have happy endings that are involved with love stories. I also enjoyed the dark parts of fairytales and the though processes behind villains and why they were so evil. The video mentioned there is always a dark side that allows people to connect with the story which I believe is true.
Ekaterini, I totally agree with you. Fairytales are special not just because of their magical endings and love stories, but also because of their darker parts. These bits make the stories more interesting and real, helping us connect with them better. It’s fascinating to think about why the villains act the way they do. Like the video said, every fairytale has a dark side, and I think that’s a big reason why we find these stories so engaging.
Everything she mentioned I agreed with, I took a class a few semesters ago with Professor Karel Rose about fairytales and children’s literature. We discussed extensively about these aspects. One that stood out to me was how we learn a lot from the villains and the downfalls in fairytales. I hadn’t fully considered the idea that even children know that fairytales aren’t real, sometimes I’m naive and I think that children do believe it – but I think for the most part they’re aware it’s fantasy. Maybe that’s the beauty in it.
this was my first time learning more deeply about fairy tales and it was interesting, and yes we learn from villains and downfalls that stood out to me too
Everything that was said about fairytales was spot on.Can still be related to this day
These were not new ideas to me they were just presented in a more formal manner. Instead of simply responding with “it’s not real” or calling it a children’s tale about fantastical and magical creatures and places, ther responses helped me answer the question of what defines a fairytale.
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
I would say that there were not any new points that were at odds with the experience I have with fairy tales. I used to watch a lot of fairy tales movies and I knew all of this.
The point she made about fairy tales always having a happy ending contradicts some of what I have heard. I have heard that some fairytales originally had sad endings, but were altered for children. Also, as stories build off of each other I feel eventually we will see fairytales with an alternative and sad ending.
Hey Hanan, you bring up a good point on how the endings were altered. Do you think their endings were altered based on the age group reading them? Do you think stories will have sad endings if they are made for adults?
Fairytales have always carried an aura of magic and enchantment,including a mix of both positivity and negativity. Personally, I am drawn to the more shadowy aspects of fairytales, and wanting to delve into the perspectives and emotions of the villains.
For the most part, I agree with her that fairy tales are an imaginary world where the main character is often depicted through heroism. However, I wonder why she said that fairy tales always have happy endings. I know that Disney remade many stories into happier ones, but the original stories are often much darker and sometimes end badly for the main character.
One thing she said that I hadn’t considered before was that we cope through these stories. I always thought of fairy tales as stories to pass the time for entertainment. However, she brought out a new perspective in which we know that regardless of the struggles that the main character goes through, they will live happily ever after in the end. Perhaps it can help us strengthen our hope and continue striving for a better life.
That is something about fairy tales that always stood with me, is there a happy end to everything? why ? and you have created a great point to encourage children to do better.
The third point is that fairy tales often imagine a previous teller. The story is a variation of something in the past. I have not considered this. I knew there were different variations of the same story but to have the story itself imply it is a retelling isn’t something I thought of.
Good! This is a big point that often gets glossed over but is critical to understanding the role fairy tales play.
I never thought about fairy tales assuming a previous teller. I think that’s interesting and now it seems obvious!
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
Point 9 left me wondering, because she says that even children know but I personally don’t think children of a specific age range maybe 2-4 years old don’t understand when something is made up yet just because they haven’t developed that level of comprehension yet. I feel like that’s also something I hadn’t considered how can a young child understand the difference between real and fake without us telling them.
this is a great point, i can relate because as a child we did not know that fairy tales would not be possible.
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
There wasn’t anything that was at odds, I think that everything that was mentions at some point in time we all learn and realize how fairytale works.
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before
All these points are odd in my experience in fact I was able to learn what are fairy tales made out of. What stood out to me the most was that they are written in the shades of symbols and that’s something I just relayed it fairy tales now.
I don’t believe that there was anything mentioned in the video that I wasn’t already familiar with conceptually as I am a pretty fond of fairytales and came across the motifs and fantastical symbols she mentioned.
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
For the most part the points that were made about fairytales I already knew. One point that I found interesting and did not consider is how some people can cope with the darkness in some fairytales. They see themselves in that narrative and can connect with the hero of the story based on similar losses. I actually did not like that most fairytales would kill off adults in the story, I felt like that was cruel and that some stories didn’t that in order for the hero to overcome a challenge.
Most of the said in the video are points that I already think to myself about storytelling. Some thing that I definitely agreed with, and actually had recent conversations about is when the speaker said, “the supernatural is there to make us hope.” Too long ago, I had a conversation with a friend about what the real purpose of religion, communities, clubs, traditions, and other things like that is in our lives. The world is filled with unknown, and I do think that storytelling, spirituality, religion, connections, or ways that people find comfort in the unknown. Storytelling is such a wonderful thing that can be manipulated into different lifestyles, it’s interesting to see how humans congrats on to a tail that has either rarely been proven, or not proven at all, in order to get through their day or understand life lessons.
not too long ago**
I definitely agree with what she spoke about, there are many things that keep people’s imagination going, the hope for some real magic in life. When people are feeling down or are stuck in a bad place in life what keeps them going is imagining a better life, reading or watching movies about fairies, princesses, etc. There’s always a hero, there’s always a better outcome and I believe even as adults you keep a little bit of that wonder even though we all know life does not work that way.
Neither of these points were at odds with my experience with fairy tales. All of what she said in general, captures the essence of almost all the fairy tales that I know. The only thing that I have not considered before, was that fairy tales have a dark side. Although it is a part of the plot, but I never really focus on the dark part of the story.
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